Residents on the West Coast of Demerara are counting their losses after floodwaters severely damaged items from their homes, business places and kitchen gardens early yesterday morning.
A young store owner of Meten-Meer-Zorg, who wished not to be named, said his losses amount to over $1M. He said a lot of goods from his bond and store got wet and he had to dump them.
He was afraid that some electrical items would also have been damaged. The man recalled that when he went to bed the night before it was raining heavily and around 6 am he woke up to several inches of water in his apartment.
Confused, he called out to the landlord who lives in the upper flat and he immediately went down and started raising the goods higher.
When this newspaper visited, he was assisting the store owner to get the water out and to place sandbags in front of the doors.
Residents of that village emphasized that the drainage trench is blocked and that even though the kokers were opened to take off the water it could not flow easily.
One man told this newspaper that he had been living in the village “for the past 20 something years and this is the second time we get this kind of flood.”
Floodwaters also affected many other people along the coast and took a long time to recede as in the case of residents of other villages including Tuschen, Zeelugt and De Willem.
Altaf Ahamad, 57, and his wife, Ramwattie Ahamad had gotten up since 1 am to several inches of water in their apartment after hearing “the cat running in the water.”
They got out of bed and started lifting some of the furniture and placing them on tables. They also tried to raise some of the other furniture but couldn’t prevent the water from getting into their cabinet and wardrobe drawers, damaging items.
They were also distressed that their fridge had stopped working and many of Ahamad’s documents that were in a box were destroyed.
Marva La Cruz said around 3:30 am yesterday her son, Randy who sleeps in the lower flat that also houses her kitchen, went up to inform her about the flood.
They went into action right away, moving furniture and other items upstairs. She lamented that she is not sure “if the fridge would come on.”
Nearby, Nadira Ram looked on as her children; Selina and Narson Melville walked in the water. She told this newspaper that her generator has “floated away” and that her huge speaker boxes were damaged.
Produce from her kitchen garden which included bora, ochro, saime and black-eye beans were also destroyed.
Sharmilla Sewsankar who rents a bottom flat apartment with her daughter, Ashley said she woke up around 3:30 am and was shocked when she stepped off her bed into several inches of water.
She put the lights on and started disconnecting electrical items and lifting them to safety with the help of Ashley. Her thyme and other herb plants were destroyed.
Over at Den Amstel, Becca Henry was busy cleaning up her home with disinfectant after the floodwaters had receded. She looked sadly at the damage to her wardrobe and sofa set the flooding had left behind.
She showed this newspaper her bed legs which she had placed in plastic bags and a pot to prevent them from being damaged.
She also lifted her five-year-old daughter, Kayla on her back and took her to relatives’ apartment in the upper flat. Her husband, Sherwin who had a broken leg told this newspaper that he had to go out in the yard to find pieces of wood to raise his furniture but that did not help.
The water had not receded from Stephen Smith’s apartment located across the road. The clothes in his dresser got soaked and his mother who lives in the upper flat helped him to wash them and put them out to dry.
He lifted his furniture onto the beds and had nowhere to sleep. His younger brother, Marlon and cousin, Odel were waiting to help him “bail the water out.”
Residents of Sarah Lodge, Stewartville were also hard-hit by the flood and around midday they were busy trying to get the water out of their homes.
They believed that the flooding was compounded by a drainage tube that was recently installed and had become blocked.
The water had already receded from Uitvlugt and residents there were also busy cleaning. In one section, Monica Christini said they recently started a new system where residents would pay $300 per month to have their parapets cleaned. She is also the only woman who is part of a group that does weeding and cleaning of drains voluntarily.
Farm on the East Bank of Essequibo was also affected by the flooding with water going into to residents’ homes and damaging electrical appliances and furniture as well as destroying their kitchen gardens.
Randolph Paul, along with other residents were trying to clean even as they waited for the water to recede further.
